Ups- It's a very nice-sized bowl of soup for only 140 calories.- Very creamy texture. With lots of mushroom pieces.- You get 10 percent of your daily calcium. And 8 percent of your iron!- I can pronounce everything on the Ingredients list.- It's gluten free (and vegetarian), which isn't important for me, but for some of you, it will be.

Downs- It has 670mg of sodium. That's 28% of your daily value. But it's perfectly salted, so I didn't feel like I needed to add any for good flavor.- I did feel like I needed something else simply because 140 calories isn't a lot in my diet plan. But a nice salad would have been perfect with this.- 3.5g sat fat? Can't figure out where that's coming in. All the different oils, maybe? But 0g trans fat--that's good!

TasteExcellent. Very hearty, earthy taste. Which is exactly what I want from a mushroom and potato soup.

Ups- For 290 calories, it's a lot of food - I couldn't finish it all.- Very creamy texture.- 15 grams of protein! Woohoo!- I can pronounce just about everything on the Ingredients list. Except... phosphoric acid and disodium phosphate. And what's carrageenan?

Phosphoric acid - (info from wiki) Food-grade phosphoric acid is used to acidify foods and beverages such as various colas, but not without controversy regarding its health effects. It provides a tangy or sour taste and, being a mass-produced chemical, is available cheaply and in large quantities. The low cost and bulk availability is unlike more expensive seasonings that give comparable flavors, such as citric acid which is obtainable from lemons and limes. (However most citric acid in the food industry is not extracted from citrus fruit, but fermented by Aspergillus niger mold from scrap molasses, waste starch hydrolysates and phosphoric acid.)

Carrageenan - (info from wiki) Gelatinous extracts of the Chondrus crispus seaweed have been used as food additives for hundreds of years, though analysis of carrageenan safety as an additive continues. Since Carrageenans are extracted from plant matter, foods containing this additive are considered suitable for vegans. Also: Studies at the Laboratory of Cellular Oncology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America, suggest that carrageenans might function as a topical microbicide.

Downs- It has 560mg of sodium. That's 26% of your daily value, which... as I'm learning from research ...is an awful lot from one meal.- One of the ingredients is being studied for its use as a sexual lubricant and microbicide. Really?

- Half of its fat content is from saturated fat.

TasteIt's a little underwhelming on the salt side, considering it has 630mg of sodium. But it has, overall, a good flavor. It's not a very sharp cheddar taste, but is instead a smooth cheesy flavor.

VerdictTry.

If you like mac & cheese and want it fast or as a lunch option, why not? It's not terrible. Just... don't search wiki for the ingredients.

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About Token Fat Friend

Everyone has one - the token fat friend who makes you feel better with her jokes and funny antics. But now, be my friend and help me in my battle to go from fat to fit.
I'm keeping this blog anonymous. I'll work to post pictures (to see progress) just as long as I can figure out how to remove faces and distinguishing features.